Amongst the Stars
by Oblivion's Tragedy
Summary: Aubrey Shepherd was just supposed to look after the Augments; keep them safe from experimentation. She was fine with that, however, she wasn't prepared when a mysterious person let's one escape and she is swept into a whirlwind of betrayal, vengeance and secrets. With a murderously dangerous superhuman on one side and an angry Starfleet on the other, what's a girl to do? KhanOC
1. Chapter 1

The hangar was empty and practically void of light when she entered the vast room; the only thing occupying the large space –seventy-three cryogenic sleeping chambers. Each held a unique person; housing forty-three men and thirty women of various ethnicities and shapes and aged physically somewhere in the range of thirty to forty. They slept away peacefully in their cryotubes, unaware of the woman passing by in the near darkness, the only light being from the half opened doors she had come through and the eerie light blue glow from each chamber. Her hand traced along every tube she passed as if caressing the most magnificent of jewels, her touch as gentle as a feather.

At last she came to the end of the room and ultimately to the last cryochamber of the line. She stopped and if it were possible her touch became even more loving as she stroked the glass separating her from the man's face within. As peaceful as he seemed, even in sleep his features were still chillingly intimidating and cold –it was the face of a man who committed crimes of the worst kind with no remorse or guilt. The sight of him shot a shiver down her spine not only in fear, but admiration as well. He was a terrifying man to behold and she was only grateful he was not awake and staring into her soul with those all-seeing intense eyes of his.

One day, she believed, he would look upon her with the same admiration she had for him for the things she would do for him. He was her God; the one thing she would worship for the rest of her life and for that he would be grateful and reward her with his attention. Her heart fluttered at the thought and compelled by her foolish thoughts, her hand reached out to stroke at the glass again, her warm fingers leaving streaks of fogged glass that quickly disappeared a moment later.

"I will do whatever you wish of me," she whispered, her tone laced with the unconditional love she harboured as she ducked her head to place her warm forehead against the cold hard glass. "I am yours, Khan."

Of course, the frozen man made no reply and she smiled sadly as her hand drifted down to the control panel. Her eyes never left his features as her fingers deftly entered a sequence of numbers upon the panel. A lighthearted beep sounded as the code was accepted and a low hum began to emit from the device as a countdown began from five hours. Her hand returned to the glass and she tilted her chin forward to place a tender kiss above where the man's lips lay.

"We will be together soon, my love. Soon, you will have everything you ever dreamed of… and more."

Retracting from the device, she backed away, her eyes never straying from the cryochamber until she was too far away to see his face. Spinning on her heal she made a mad dash back to the hanger doors and cast one last longing glance inside before they fell shut and the locking mechanism was back in place.

* * *

Commander Aubrey Shepherd was punctual and on time as she usually was, arriving at the security desk of floor B15 of Starfleet's main base in San Francisco, PADD in hand and dressed in her white lab uniform. Her red hair was tied at the back of her head in a simple ponytail, the thick locks tumbling over one shoulder in soft curls and her bangs swept gently to the right side. Her glasses were, as always, propped on her nose and protected her mossy green irises that were not lined or enhanced by any kind of makeup. Her lips held a light smile as she approached the desk and without having to be told to do so, removed her glasses to allow the facial recognition scanner to verify her identification.

"Going to be another late night, Doc?" asked the officer behind the desk with a knowing smirk as he looked over at the redhead. His name was Harold Williams, a kind older man and one of Bre's friends down below in this dull underground facility. She returned a wider smile when the scanner approved her access and the glass shield blocking the security entrance from the large hallway beyond slid open, her kind dark eyes shining from behind her glasses when she perched them back daintily on her straight nose.

"You should know the answer to that by now, Harry," she chuckled as she looked over her PADD and started towards the hallway, waving over her shoulder with her free hand. Behind her, Harold laughed good-naturedly, his slightly long greying brown hair brushing his forehead as he shook his head.

"You work too much. Before you know it, you'll be as old and grey as I am!" he called after her.

Bre turned and looked up from her PADD to smile at the older man. "Come now, you're not that grey," she teased with a wink. He was only ten years her senior, but still a handsome man by most women's standards. He had a roguish look to him that many found appealing, but Bre had only ever thought of the man as something closer to an older brother; of course, this never stopped him from flirting.

Harold laughed again and shooed a hand in her direction. "Ah, go on, you."

Laughing, Bre did as he said and started down the hallway once more as the glass barrier slid shut behind her. Her low heels made rhythmic clicks that echoed in the steel-lined expansion as she made her way through the complex, nodding greetings and such to her fellow coworkers and security officers.

Upon entering her office, she was met with an unexpected guest; Tanya Smith, a talented albeit naïve young Lieutenant. As soon as Aubrey made eye contact with the young woman, she stood hastily from her seat, her back ramrod straight and her chin tilted up, her brown eyes straying away from the Commander. Though Aubrey had been a Commander for some time now, she still hadn't quite gotten used to when Lieutenants stood at attention for her in private and even went as far as to avoid her gaze at all costs out of irrational fear of her rank. Of course she knew the respectable stance was Starfleet regulation, but that didn't change the fact that it made her slightly uncomfortable.

Rounding the desk to her own seat, Aubrey placed her PADD down on the desk and laced her fingers before her, Lieutenant Smith still at attention and stiffer than a board. "You may be seated," she finally told the woman and she confirmed with a 'yes, ma'am' before taking her previous seat, her eyes still refusing to meet Aubrey's. "Is there something that you needed, Lieutenant?"

"I have the status report for Hangar 16," replied the younger brunette and it was only then that Aubrey noticed the PADD in her hands. Wordlessly, she held her hand out across the desk in a gesture to take the device from Smith and the woman hesitated for only a second before passing it over. "All is clear, Ma'am."

Despite the Lieutenant's assurance, Aubrey took it upon herself to read over the data flickering across the PADD with her brows furrowed slightly. She was a little put out that the Lieutenant, who was practically her assistant, had taken it upon herself to get the specs on the Augments being held in Hangar 16 as it was Aubrey's job to do. Neverminding the fact that in other circumstances this meant that she could cross off one of the number of things she would have to do this morning; all she had to do was check at noon and before she left for the night. However grateful she was though, the Lieutenant had entered the hangar without her permission which was unacceptable. She'd have to go over the specs again to make sure the Lieutenant hadn't screwed anything up.

"Tell me something, Lieutenant," Aubrey started, placing the PADD down next to her own to level Smith with a stern stare. "Did I ask you to get the specifications?"

Lieutenant Smith blinked and she momentarily met Aubrey's gaze only to look away just as suddenly. "U-um, no, Ma'am. I just thought –"

" –That you would enter the hangar without your Commanding Officer's permission?" Aubrey interrupted. Smith visibly gulped in nervousness. She honestly didn't mean to be so hard on the girl, but rules were rules and had she been caught by anyone else it would have been on Aubrey's head too.

Tanya was ashamed enough to drop her chin slightly. "I'm sorry, Ma'am. It won't happen again, I promise."

"Promises mean little when the mistake has been made twice, Lieutenant," Aubrey sighed.

Smith looked stunned. "Commander? I'm not sure I follow."

This was the second time that Smith had been in that hangar without permission. Two weeks ago a security guard that had left his post for a moment to simulate a cup of coffee spotted her leaving the hangar on her own. He had mentioned it in passing to Aubrey one day at lunch, assuming she had sent the young Lieutenant in for the specs while she was otherwise occupied. At first she was furious, but when she calmed down enough to think about it rationally, she decided to give the girl another chance. Many people were curious and frightened of the Augments and she knew better than most that if she was younger and had less to lose, she'd be sticking her nose in that room more than was necessary. Already when she analyzed them she noticed she was more interested than she should have been.

She saw Tanya as a younger version of herself in some sort of way and thus had let the first incident slide. She was still somewhat knew to the whole secrecy game and let the curiosity get the better of her, much like it had for Aubrey on many occasions, but those were times when she was not in a top secret facility beneath Starfleet Headquarters.

"You know very well what I mean, Lieutenant. I have received word that you have been in that hangar once before without my permission. As it so happens, I know that curiosity can sometimes get the best of us," she said gently and watched at Tanya bowed her head in shame. Out of the Lieutenant's sight, Aubrey worried her lower lip, hating what she had to ask next. "Tanya…" She looked up slowly as her Commander addressed her. "Have you been in that hangar without my permission more than these two occurrences? I will remind you that lying to your Commander is an offense against Starfleet and should I not take your word for it, I will check the security feed for evidence of your statement."

The woman looked just about ready to cry and Aubrey sorely hoped she wouldn't have to call anyone to drag a blubbering woman from her office. However, Smith nodded, obviously too overwhelmed to speak. Aubrey sighed again and frowned as she leaned back in her seat, hating her next words. "Then I have no choice but to relieve you, Lieutenant Smith," she said softly as she leant over to retrieve her communicator to contact the security desk. "Harry, I need two security officers to come to my office and escort Lieutenant Tanya Smith to Sector 4 to await trial."

Harold's voice responded almost immediately. "Right away, Commander."

"Thanks, Harry."

With that Aubrey shut her communicator off and looked back at the young woman on the other side of the desk. The poor girl was trying her hardest to stop her tears from falling and her breaths were shallow, even her hands were clenched in her lap. Aubrey felt sorry for the girl; she was too young to have been given the responsibility of secrecy and now she was probably going to be kicked from Starfleet and God only knew what would happen to her after that. Aubrey knew that anything she attempted to say to the girl in comfort would do little to appease her sorrows.

The room was silent while they waited the few minutes for security to arrive and when they did, they escorted Tanya out wordlessly. The woman still would not meet Aubrey's eyes and stumbled along with the two large burly men out the door. As soon as she was alone again Aubrey removed her glasses from her nose and placed them on the desk to rub at her eyes, her once steely posture slumped forward.

It wasn't even 0600 yet and the mounting stress and frustration was already getting on her nerves. Coffee. She needed coffee. Lots of it.

But first, to Hangar 16. She needed to get that check out of the way before Admiral Archer came down there and sacked her along with the Lieutenant.

After replacing her glasses on her nose with more force than was necessary and snatching her communicator and the PADD Smith had given her from her desk, she exited her office, the lock automatically engaging behind her with a reassuring hiss. The heels of her boots clicked dully along the hallway as she made the annoyingly long trek to the Hangar Bay. She busied herself with flicking through the information the Lieutenant had given her and noticed that she had missed something in her original glance over it –something she kicked herself mentally for. There were odd readings on one of the cryotubes; so odd that she thought her eyes were maybe playing tricks on her, but upon another look –and after several astounded blinks –she found that they hadn't changed.

One of the cryotubes –Khan's to be exact –seemed to be warming up and there had even been slight movement when Smith had taken the reading; it was very little, but still there. There must have been a malfunction with the tube, she realized with another frustrated huff; just another thing to add to her already terrible day. Flicking out her communicator as she picked up her pace, she switched the dial to the engineers' section of the underground base.

"Commander Matthews, this is Commander Aubrey Shepherd; come in."

It took only a few moments for a male voice to reply. "This is Commander Matthews."

"Commander, I have some reason to believe there might be a malfunction in Hangar 16," she replied evasively. Not everyone in the facility knew where the Augments were, or even that they were still alive, so she had to keep her mouth relatively shut on an open channel. "I'm not entirely sure yet, and I'm sure it's really nothing to worry about, but I'd like you to come down to check it out just in case."

There was a pause on the other end that Aubrey thought slightly odd. Commander Thomas Matthews was a damn good engineer –almost as good as Montgomery Scott –and a good co-worker, they had gone to the Academy together and Aubrey would have called him a close personal friend if she could afford herself the luxury of such relationships. She didn't like to have attachments, especially not in the workplace. It just made things easier and she wouldn't get caught up in any of that other stupid office gossip that she had no interest in being a part of.

She was brought out of her internal thoughts when Matthews' voice came back over the com. "I have some things I need to finish up here, can you give me 20 minutes?" he asked.

"Of course," she replied without hesitation. Like she said, it was probably nothing. "I'll head in and see what's going on and I'll inform you when you arrive."

"Are you sure that's a good idea, Commander?" The engineer seemed a tad apprehensive and though he wouldn't have been able to see it, Aubrey raised her brow anyway as she rounded the last corner to Hangar 16, a small smile quirking the corners of her lips. Just because she wasn't attached, didn't mean she didn't appreciate it when someone was concerned for her safety.

"I'm sure. I'm a big girl, Matthews, I can handle a simple malfunctioning piece of machinery," she chuckled in return. "See you in 20 minutes, Commander." With that, she closed the communicator and cut off the conversation before he could say anything else. Just in time too as she came up in front of the Hangar doors.

The security officer next to it was standing rigid with his hands clasped in front of him which caused the muscles in his arms to bulge even more than they already did and effectively made him more imposing than he really was. His name was Jonathon and a regular guardsman that Aubrey had taken an appreciation for. He was never late, only left his post when absolutely necessary and was a complete sweetheart. If Aubrey was looking for a man, Jonathon would be one of the few at the top of her list.

"Mornin', Commander," he greeted with a warm bright smile and a merry salute that made her smile widen. Jonathon was an Irishman and she was pretty sure that any words coming from his mouth would sound beautiful; pair that with his strong physique, messy dark brown hair and chiselled features and he was quite the heartthrob. She was pretty sure plenty of women ogled him on a daily basis.

"Good morning," she replied. She clipped her communicator back to her belt and tucked the PADD under her free arm as she began typing in the codes to open the hangar doors. "Go for a break, Jon. I'll be in here for a while and will keep an eye on things. Come back by 0630 at the latest. I should be done by then."

"Ya sure?" he asked, but Aubrey could tell he perked up just a bit more at the idea. Poor guy worked harder than a lot of people she had the displeasure of knowing and still had the smile of an angel through all of it. When she nodded, Jon's grin was so bright Aubrey was sure she would have swooned if she were a lesser woman. "Thanks, Commander. I'll see ya at 0630."

Aubrey laughed softly and shook her head as the man skipped off to the central lounge area on their floor. When all her codes were finally accepted on the panel, the huge hanger doors gave a muffled thud and clank as the locks were pulled back and she was allowed to push the doors open with some difficulty. As soon as she was inside, the doors only partially closed behind her to leave a small crack of light from the hall and she was left in the relative darkness with 73 dully glowing blue lights.

"Activating code 0067309, Commander Aubrey Shepherd," she said loudly into the blackness.

"Code accepted," came the automated female voice that echoed around the room.

"Lights on," Aubrey commanded, her tone a little quieter, and the lights high above her in the rafters of the hangar flickered on and lit up the large room. Now that she was able to see properly, she made her way down the line of cryotubes towards the back, deciding she should get the malfunction hassle out of the way first.

However, the closer she got to the back of the hangar, the more apprehensive she felt. She was sure she was being watched, but dismissed it as paranoia over the whole fiasco. From a distance it seemed there was nothing wrong with the tube; it was intact with no dents or scratches and the blue light was still emitting from the glass at the head of it.

But once she got closer she was startled to find that it was empty. Khan's face didn't greet her in peaceful slumber like it had three times a day for the past five years, the frosting usually framing the edges of the glass was gone and worst of all there was no Khan inside or in sight.

Her breath hitched and she looked around the room wildly, hoping to catch a glimpse of the superhuman terrorist, but he was nowhere to be found. But she knew for a fact that he was in there with her; she knew he hadn't gotten out the doors she had come and there were no air vents large enough for him to crawl through therefore he was in there.

Her spine tingled as she realized her earlier feeling of being watched was right and she attempted to casually reach for her communicator at her side as she continued to scan the room. Unfortunately she was just short of grasping it when an arm suddenly snaked around her waist and pulled her back against a cold hard torso. A freezing hand slapped against her mouth to cover the scream she was too shocked to emit and she jumped violently enough to cause her PADD to slip from under her arm and clatter to the steel floor. Her own hands rose in a poor attempt to pry his hand from her face even though she knew it was useless and she ended up squirming against his hold like a fish out of water; kicking and slapping and flailing. The arm around her waist, despite the somewhat awkward angle, maneuvered in a way that allowed his hand to snatch her communicator from her belt and toss it to the floor. Unlike her PADD, the flimsy material of the device gave way to the impact and fell to useless pieces of plastic and wiring. She gave up struggling after a few moments when he suddenly leant forward so that his lips were right next to her ear, his breath chilly against her warm skin and his tone so menacingly calm and low it reminded her of thunder when the storm was miles away.

"Scream and I will not hesitate to tear the head from your worthless body."

* * *

Hey, everyone! Thanks for clicking on my new story! I'll be posting a few more of this one and a few others so stay tuned! I'm not sure how often I'll be able to update due to school and such, but I'll do my best!


	2. Chapter 2

That was how they stood for what seemed like an eternity to Aubrey. Though she had halted in her pointless attempts to escape his hold, her body still vibrated with the adrenaline pumping through her veins and her breath came in ragged puffs of air through her flared nostrils. His grip never loosened, but it didn't tighten either; he just held her as solidly as if she were caught in the snares of a living statue. However when her breathing had finally calmed to a slower pace he slowly turned her so that they were facing each other and automatically her green eyes locked onto his smoldering blue ones. They were cold and unfeeling like ice, matching his expressionless pale features to a T. His gaze bore down on her in such a way that her skin crawled with an inkling of fear, but she refused to allow anything more than shock mar her own face.

She didn't even realize he had moved to pin her back up against the cryotube they were standing beside until she felt the cold penetrate past her lab coat and uniform to sink into her lower back. Instantly she shivered and goosebumps erected the little hairs all over her body. When she noticed Khan's eyes flicker ever so slightly to do a quick perusal of her she hoped he wouldn't think he was the one that was effecting her in such a way –she didn't feel like having her head torn off because he was simply disgusted with her.

Slowly he removed his hand from her mouth and when he still didn't speak, Aubrey decided to give it a try and opened her mouth to say something when he cut her off. "How long?"

She blinked more out of surprise that he would cut her off like that, as she was used to being the one in charge, than his actual short and clipped question, but answered anyway. "Five years."

He cocked his head to one side and closed his eyes briefly and for a moment Aubrey was witness to his renowned anger as his lips formed a sneer and his hands that had moved to pin her biceps to the tube behind her tightened. It was a bit painful, but she didn't dare wince and incur his wrath farther. "My crew?" he asked, still not looking at her and tone deadly calm. Aubrey blinked and apparently took too long to answer because he lashed out, his right hand leaving her arm to wrap around her neck like a vice. He pushed her harder against the cryotube and she let out a strangled choke as her back followed the convexed surface of the device, her now free hand clawing at his wrist desperately.

"Did your precious Starfleet not have the decency to at least recover their bodies? Assuming there was anything left besides _pieces,_" he snarled, his face contorting in such fury Aubrey thought she might burn up at its intensity. Although that would have been preferred over choking to death. And were she not currently without use of her vocal cords she would have snarkily asked if he had even bothered to look around the room for himself and tell her what he saw. If she wasn't already dying of lack of oxygen, she definitely would have been after that comment for sure.

So, unable to verbally reply, she never lost eye contact with him and instead released her free hand from his wrist to point behind him, the limb shaking only slightly. His glare deepened along with his pressure for a moment then the next thing she knew he had pulled her away from the cryotube and tossed her effortlessly to the floor to cough and wheeze as he whirled around to stare around the hangar. She couldn't help but look up and watch his reaction as she massaged her sore throat and gulped in as much air as she could, hoping her heart rate would decrease sooner rather than later.

His anger had melted into something closer to awe and another expression that had Aubrey wondering if maybe there had been some temporary brain damage after his assault. If she didn't know who he was she would have said he looked ready to cry in surprised joy, the shear relief almost bringing him to tears. However, this was Khan, you could never really trust what he did no matter how real it seemed. He was a master manipulator. Though somehow she had a strong feeling this was genuine.

As if forgetting that she was there he started making his way down the row of cryotubes walking slowly as if in a daze and checked each one just to make sure he wasn't being deceived and that his crew members were actually alive and well inside their confinements. Aubrey shakily rose to her feet while retrieving her PADD and adjusting her glasses to follow him, desperately hoping he wouldn't try to release any of them. That would be even more difficult to explain to the Admiral. As it was, she had no idea what to do with the one that was already up and walking.

"How?" he finally asked, his voice so soft and tender it reminded her of a child's; there was no trace of any regret he might have had for what he just did to her which wasn't surprising. Nevertheless, she still felt a tug of sympathy in her heart for the man though tried not to let it affect her. "The torpedoes –"

"–Blew up in the cargo hold of the _Vengeance_," Aubrey finished with an agreed nod, her voice a little rough and choppy due to the strangling. He bristled and tossed another sneer in her direction before moving on. Obviously he didn't like being interrupted as much as she did. With a self-satisfied smirk at the thought, she continued. "Commander Spock removed your people from the torpedoes and armed them just minutes before you beamed them over to your ship." She stopped there to watch his reaction to this –and to give her sore throat a break –but she was unrewarded as he just continued down the line with her a few feet behind. "He may pretend he's an unfeeling Vulcan, but his human half couldn't allow him to end 72 lives for one man no matter how powerful he is."

At this he stopped and turned to face her again, but he didn't look angry; in fact he looked intrigued. That, unfortunately, didn't lessen his imposing appearance one bit. "And Kirk?"

Aubrey bit her lip and wondered if she was maybe saying too much, but even if she didn't tell him he'd probably find out some other way –he was a genius after all and the secret archives' information was practically endless. "He… died," she started softly, her throat still sore and weak, but the memory of that time was also still fresh in her mind. She didn't know Jim Kirk very well, but they interacted once in a while at the Academy and he seemed like a good –although horny –man. If she had friends, Jim Kirk probably would have been one of them. "The warp core was misaligned and Kirk died of radiation poisoning to save the _Enterprise_ from crashing to Earth. When you were recaptured by Commander Spock, they took some of your blood to revive him. He, and the rest of the _Enterprise_ crew, are currently in year four of a five year exploration mission."

"Most interesting," Khan said slowly, his eyes roaming over her again as if evaluating her. Unlike before when he looked at her with disdain, he now watched her calculatingly. She felt a nervous knot form in her belly, but she stood her ground and held her head high. "What is your name?"

Her brows furrowed in some confusion. What was the point of knowing her name if he was just going to kill her? Regardless, she replied, "Commander Aubrey Shepherd."

"Ah," he drawled, a smirk playing at his lips. "I thought something of the sort. You are confident, stubborn… and at least moderately intelligent though you are foolish enough to try my patience."

Aubrey was pretty sure that was meant to be a compliment coming from someone like him, but the jab about being 'moderately intelligent' had her bristling and she crossed her arms over her chest while leveling him with her own glare. "Well, if you're so smart how did you allow yourself to get caught?"

His mood darkened again and creases formed upon his brow. "Take care with your words, human. You may be intelligent, but I can find another if I so wish. I could kill you in an instant." He turned his back to her again and continued on down the aisle. "And rest assured I will not allow such a circumstance to happen again."

She decided to ignore his last statement. "I don't doubt that for a second. The only question is why you haven't yet," she challenged though she found she was curious for the answer, if not a bit scared of it too. Like he said before, he could tear her head from her body so why was she still walking around?

"As previously mentioned, you are at least moderately intelligent and as a Commander of Starfleet you hold codes and sequences that will help me and my people to escape."

"So, what? You think I'll just hand them over to you? Highly unlikely," she scoffed.

"I would prefer to kill you, but cracking codes would go much quicker with you alive," he replied monotonously then suddenly stopped to face her again causing her to try and not run into him. "You will find I can be very persuasive."

"And _you_ will find I can be _very_ resilient," she countered stubbornly while placing her hands securely on her hips. His lips quirked again into another small smirk.

"That has yet to be seen. So far you have given me all the information I have asked of you, Ms. Shepherd."

Aubrey's teeth clenched in frustration at his purposeful misuse of her title. She knew he was trying to get a rise out of her and forced her jaw to relax enough to allow a condescending smile to appear. "I gave you information you could easily find in two minutes on a PADD. I'd hardly call that cooperation."

His eyes flickered like they had before and he looked her over again as if assessing her, the light blue hue of them deceptively calm yet just as devious. He took a step closer as they locked with hers, their chests nearly touching now, and she fought the urge to take the instinctive step back. Instead, she hardened her stare and lifted her chin to show him he couldn't intimidate and bully her like the rest of his victims, that she wasn't some powerless woman with nerves like jelly. She was strong and she was stubborn. She wasn't yet sure if that would be her salvation or her demise.

The right corner of his lip quirked again as amusement flashed across his face before disappearing again. Without a word he took a step back which allowed her to straighten out her neck and she was silently thankful to be relieved of the small ache that had begun to form from being in such a position. She was confused, and actually quite annoyed, when he suddenly turned away and started stalking towards the entrance that was now only a few yards away. Aubrey immediately panicked and dashed after him, her lab coat billowing out behind her and her hurried footsteps clacking uncoordinatedly on the hard ground. She managed to beat him to the still partially open door and spin around just in time to meet his cold eyes once more. He was glaring at her again, his lips set in a thin line and his shoulders stiff, but he didn't move to push her out of the way which she thought odd.

She knew it was pointless to use her body as a physical barrier to his escape as he was clearly much stronger than her and wouldn't hesitate to snap her neck to get her out of his way. At the same time she couldn't risk him going out there and being seen. The destruction he caused may have happened five years prior, but it wasn't something the people of Starfleet would easily forget. Since then his face had been plastered all over the WorldNet in political comics and conspiracy theory search engines. He was famous even outside of Starfleet, there's no way he wouldn't be recognized even though most only knew him as the rogue John Harrison and not the Augment Khan.

"Move," he ground out in what Aubrey was sure was one of his most menacing tones, his voice so low and cold it sent a chill down her spine. Shaking her head, she shifted her stance so her feet were more stable, essentially standing her ground.

"No. You go out there right now and you'll have an angry mob of Starfleet personnel on you in five minutes flat," she stubbornly shot back. Khan's eyes narrowed dangerously. "And I don't care now strong you are; there are _a lot_ of them and I can guarantee their phasers will not be set to stun."

His stony glare melted again and something closer to curiosity replaced it as a dark eyebrow rose a bit higher on his pale forehead. "And you are defending me from this fate? How interesting…"

"Careful; that ego of yours might weigh you down," she shot back with a sneer. "Call it weakness, but my conscious can't knowingly send a man out to his death."

Khan chuckled darkly. "Not weakness, doctor. Merely a test."

Aubrey couldn't stop herself from being confused and slightly curious. "A test?"

"Yes. One that you passed."

"I don't under-"

"Commander Shepherd?"

Once again Aubrey found herself with her back pressed against the wall with Khan's hand over her mouth, the expanse of his torso sandwiching her between him and the wall. She could hardly breathe with the pressure and Khan's hand blocking most of the airflow. Although the sudden anxiety probably wasn't helping either.

"Commander Shepherd?" the voice from the other side of the door called again. It was slightly far off and mingled with heavy footsteps which could only mean that Matthews was not quite ready to burst in the hangar just yet. Aubrey felt a trickle of worry because if the man did she had no doubt that Khan would kill him the moment his foot passed the invisible barrier between the hall and hangar. He already had one Commander, he didn't need two.

Her eyes searched out the Augment's in the still somewhat dim light of the hangar and she silently pleaded with him to spare his life, but Khan either didn't get the message or chose to ignore it entirely which seemed the more likely option. She only remembered that she still held the PADD in her hand when Khan violently ripped it from her grasp and threw it to the floor where it shattered noisily. It echoed painfully loudly around the hangar enough to make her flinch, but Khan, of course, was disturbingly calm. There was no way Matthews hadn't heard that.

She was proven right when she heard the Commander's footsteps quicken and his voice take on a worried tone. "Aubrey? Is everything alright?"

But Aubrey barely took notice of the worry from the other man as her vision was filled with nothing but Khan after he had crouched before her for a moment then rose to his full height once more. He leaned forward menacingly, his stare hard and icy like before and his frown cruel enough to send another shiver down her spine. A sharp object suddenly threatening her abdominal aorta probably added to that as well. He even had the audacity to touch it to her side gently and run the sharp point up and down so slowly that it could have been mistaken as a lover's caress had it not been endangering her life.

His voice was low once again as he spoke. "Get rid of him."

That was all the instruction she got before she was shoved into the crack created between the hangar door and wall, her body effectively blocking the entrance stiffly with a shard from the PADD threatening her artery and a fake smile plastered on her lips for the Commander she had nearly been shoved into. The man stumbled as he blinked several times, clearly surprised at her sudden appearance while she struggled internally to not let the immense stress she was feeling show on her face.

"Commander," he breathed in a sigh, a small smile gracing his lips. "I thought you might have left when you didn't answer, but then I heard the crash –"

"Sorry," she immediately apologized and cut him off in the process. "I was preoccupied; you know how I am when I'm working."

Matthews' smile dropped and he looked her over, one eyebrow slowly rising. "And the crash?"

"Dropped my PADD," she explained with a light shrug.

"Oh," he replied rather awkwardly. "So, about that tube you wanted me to check out…?"

"That won't be necessary anymore, Commander. As it turns out, the Lieutenant entered the wrong data and possibly pressed a few keys she shouldn't have. The cryotube is fine. Fully functional," she assured, her smile never wavering even with the ever present reminder of Khan's threat pressed into her back.

"Not much of a loss then, was she?" the man chuckled and Aubrey forced herself to smile indulgingly. Word traveled fast, didn't it?

"Indeed not," she agreed, a barely perceptible bite to her words.

"You sure you don't want me to take a quick peak? Won't take more than a moment."

She felt the shard press into her back harder and she bit back an almost startled gasp. "No, it's quite alright," she assured almost breathily. "I have everything under control."

Matthews regarded her for a moment and Aubrey continued to smile until he finally nodded in acceptance. "Alright," he said. She immediately felt the sharp edge recede slightly. "But if anything goes wrong, don't hesitate to com me."

"Absolutely," Aubrey nodded. "Sorry for dragging you out here for nothing, Commander."

"It's alright, Aubrey. No harm done," Matthews smiled and nodded goodbye before turning on his heal and going back the way he came while Aubrey pushed the heavy hangar door shut with a resounding 'clunk'.

Khan's makeshift weapon had since disappeared from threatening her back and now hung had his side as she turned to glare at him. "What the hell was that for?" she snapped at him, a glare narrowing her brow. Khan merely raised one of his.

"Incentive."

"I would have done it if you would have just _asked_. Like a _normal_ person,_" _she spat back at him angrily. At this he seemed genuinely confused and even blinked once or twice as he looked her over. "I don't want anyone getting hurt because of you. I would have gotten him to leave if you had asked me to."

At this he scoffed, the confusion disappearing from his face like it had never been there and was replaced by his usual blank emotionless expression. "Pointless. I will kill many before I get what I want. Your attempts in the future will not prove to have the same results."

"Be that as it may, I at least saved a good man's life. That will probably be a comfort when you finally get around to killing me."

"You still believe I'm going to kill you?" He almost seemed to chuckle as he said this, but really his tone seemed more condescending than anything. Aubrey got the distinct impression he was treating her like an airheaded child and she didn't like it.

"I'm an inferior being with no greater purpose than to serve your cause," she replied with a roll of her eyes. "I'm a means to an end; of course you're going to kill me. As soon as I fulfill my purpose, I'm –" Here she didn't even bother to finish the sentence with words and instead substituted with a throat slitting action with her hand, complete with a squelching croak-like noise from her mouth. When the gesture was complete she crossed her arms over her chest and stared at him as he eyed her in interest.

"For one who knows of their impending brutal death, you seem oddly at ease with it," he drawled calmly. "Accepting..." A thought seemed to occur to him and his gaze became more intent and he angled his body so he was completely facing her now. It made her slightly uneasy having him so focussed on her, those cold eyes calculating her as if she were a specimen to study. Funny, seeing as how he was the one that everyone wanted to experiment and test on. "Do you not fear death?"

Aubrey blinked at such a redundant question. Of course she feared it; it was human nature to fear the unknown and unanswered questions as old as time. But that didn't mean she had to fight it. Death happened to everyone and everything; for some it was sooner than later –but in the end everything dies. Yes, she feared death, if only a little, but why try to stop it when it was bound to happen anyway?

"I do," she finally answered after a few beats of silence between them. "I just don't fight it. If it happens; it happens. All things die eventually; my time just seems to be ending sooner than I thought and I'm okay with that. Even you, Khan, will die someday." His eyes narrowed a fraction at this, but Aubrey ignored it. She felt it was pointless to be scared of him now that the realization that she was going to die by his hand whether he was angry or not had dawned on her. Acceptance was sinking farther and farther into her mind and she didn't try to push it away. All that was left for her to do was to goad him. "It's likely you will live longer than us humans, but the fact still remains that you _will_ die. And I take comfort in that."


	3. Chapter 3

After her revelation and short monologue the hangar had grown silent. He stared at her with an expression that was making her both confused and anxious. He made no indication to lash out or yell after the spiteful words left her mouth –just stared at her with those damn intense blue eyes of his. She wanted to fidget, her muscles were aching to do so, but she refrained knowing that it would only give him the satisfaction of making her nervous.

He stared at her for was seemed like an eternity before he suddenly spun on his heel and started stalking in the direction of the back of the hangar where his cryochamber still sat peacefully with the rest. Narrowing her eyes, she followed after him at a hurried pace as her strides were not as long as his and just caught up to him when he reached the side of the tube. She watched warily as he began to study the control panel on the top of it, his gaze calculating.

"What are you doing?" she couldn't help but ask out of curiosity. He didn't make a move to answer her or even acknowledge her presence a few steps behind him. He scanned the length of the cryotube with interest, his lips set in a thin line, and Aubrey was about to repeat her question when he finally spoke.

"Open it," he demanded without even turning to look at her. Instead he only stepped a small portion to the side to allow her room enough to reach the panel without having to make physical contact with him. Just to spite him, she didn't move nor did she speak. Slowly his head turned to give her a withering glare out of the corner of his eye. "I said… _open it_."

"No," she denied stonily. At this, his body turned fully so he could glare at her even more. "I know what you're doing. You want me to open it so that you know the code to open the rest of them. I'm not falling for it."

"Oh, you are a clever one, aren't you?" he chuckled lightly, but his face hardly gave any indication of actual humor. "Much cleverer than you originally seemed. Very well."

Aubrey was forced to forget the insult and suppressed a yelp of surprise when he suddenly gave a roar of anger as he heaved a pale fist through the glass at the top of the cryotube. He then proceeded to grasp the edge of the broken area just above the control panel and with practically no effort it seemed he ripped the circular portion clean off. Wires snapped and sparked and fizzed dangerously yet he paid them no mind as he hurled the number pad across the hangar. By now his face was contorted into an expression of pure rage; nostrils flared, brows furrowed and lips snarling like a rabid animal's.

Aubrey watched in shocked horror as he took the device apart piece by piece until it was nothing more than scraps of metal, glass and wiring all over the hangar. When he was finished he wasn't even fatigued and Aubrey had to keep reminding herself that she wasn't afraid of him and that if she ran he'd catch her with little to no effort. She didn't even know what to say after such an aggressive display of strength. His superhuman abilities were certainly nothing to take lightly –which is what she had unknowingly done up until this point. She knew he was strong, savage and cruel, but there was a distinct difference between knowing it and seeing it. And she was seeing something she had never thought she would even after taking her position as a Starfleet Commander and all the chaos that seemed to constantly occur.

She was somehow convinced that although she was a high ranking officer and technically had the training for most altercations that could take place, she thought she'd spend most of her time stuck behind a desk writing notes and filing documents. She was just a researcher who studied the safer and less invasive side of the world; it was why she was put in charge of the Augments. She wasn't there to dissect them and find out why they were different from the rest of the human population; she was there to protect them. There were many other researchers inside Starfleet that immediately jumped at the idea of finding out more about the Augments and if they could replicate the process with more favorable outcomes, but Admiral Archer had strictly refused such unethical practices.

He chose Aubrey for the job because she didn't want to see the Augments suffer or turned into experiments to make profit. She saw them as more unique humans with special abilities that needed to be left alone. Three hundred years ago mankind tried to abuse that kind of power and it left them broken and almost destroyed and Aubrey believed that the human race was still not ready for it. Admiral Marcus was proof of that. Yes, they lived in a much more peaceful society now, but the Augments were proven to be aggressive and brutal; it would be like a mouse trying to tame a lion. Their warrior instincts would destroy them.

Now as she looked at Khan and the rage that took over his features with such intensity, she realized how right she had been. Had he been awoken under better circumstances and given a chance for him and his people to leave the planet and start anew, they may have become allies. Now, however, after the events of five years prior there was no chance of that. He had been degraded and used; even if his crew was safe and alive he would destroy them all just for all the trouble and grief they had caused him. There was no turning back from it now; no chance of redemption in his eyes.

Aubrey shook her head to rid herself of such thoughts and cleared her throat gently. Khan was still glaring at the remains of his cryochamber and didn't acknowledge her when she took a tentative step forward to stand beside him. "That was a bit of an overkill, don't you think?" she asked softly, attempting to lighten the dark mood somewhat if only for her own sake. It felt stifling and oppressive. Khan didn't reply, didn't even look at her. Sighing, she decided to get right to the point. "We need to figure out what we're going to do. Obviously I'm not going to let you just walk out of here on your own and you're not going to let me out of your sight either."

"How astute of you, Commander," he ground out irritably.

Aubrey rolled her eyes. "And I'm obviously not going to give you the codes to your crew. I'd die before I do that." Finally he swerved his glare over to her, but did not say a word. "And we can't stay here much longer. Security will be back any minute and he can't see you when he does." She met his steely stare with a confidence she wasn't sure she felt. "I want to help you because I think you and your people deserve better than to freeze in a hangar for who knows how long, but if I do then we have to find a common ground. Got it?"

His glare gradually lessened and she was relieved when instead he leveled her with an inquisitive –yet still seemingly uninterested –look. His long pause as he scrutinized her made her nervous, but she held her ground. Finally, he opened his mouth to speak. "Do you have any suggestions as to what we do then?" He sounded condescending again and Aubrey didn't bother suppressing her frown of disapproval.

"Right now all I've got is getting you back to my office. After that we can figure it out the rest."

He smirked again and gestured a hand out behind them almost gallantly, but Aubrey knew it was farced.

"After you, Commander."

* * *

Aubrey breathed heavily as she hastily punched in the code to unlock her office while Khan was as stoic and calm as ever. He didn't seem at all affected by her panic nor did he seem to have similar anxieties. He just stood close to her side as her fingers fumbled over the keypad, his eyes scanning the empty hall as lookout and a hand ready at her shoulder. To an onlooker it may have looked like he was offering her comfort and support to get her to calm down enough to open the door, but in reality it was him that was making her this way.

But perhaps an explanation as to why was in order.

Before leaving the hangar Aubrey had given Khan her lab coat to help try to blend him in more just in case they passed anyone –thankfully, it was a one size fits all. Unfortunately there was nothing she could do about his face and she hoped his pride wouldn't get in the way of him lowering his head enough so that his face was obscured. Luckily she didn't have to voice this concern because when they exited the hangar he immediately ducked his head to stare at the floor, his black tresses falling over his forehead to mask his features even better.

Her moment of relief was short lived, however, when she heard Jonathan calling out to her from down the hall behind them. "Commander Shepherd!" he said loudly, a smile evident in his tone and Aubrey felt a small trickle of fear begin to descend her spine. Passing a colleague with a quick 'hello' was favorable, but having to stop and chat was another. She would have to introduce the man with her and why he was there. What if he was recognized?

She stopped short, her shoulders tense and Khan slowed to a silent halt at her side. When she turned to acknowledge the security guard, Khan stayed where he was with his back turned to the man. Jon came jogging up to them, that wide handsome smile that was ever present aimed at her and she had to fight to not let the fear she felt show on her face.

Before she even had a chance to muster up a greeting in return, Jon's eyes had moved to Khan and narrowed in confusion. "Who's that with ya there? Why's he wearin' yer coat?" he asked. How he had recognized that it was her lab coat from the back was beyond her, but she had no time to dwell on it when Khan slowly turned to face the other man, his head lifting so his chin was held high.

She knew what was going to happen before it even did. "Holy-!" Jonathan stuttered with wide eyes. "You-! You're-! Commander, what's he doin' here?!"

Aubrey didn't even have a chance to reply and Jon didn't even twitch a finger towards the phaser at his hip before Khan was on him. A swift punch was aimed at the large man's throat and there was a startling gasp followed by a choke and gurgle before he fell to the floor. Khan followed his descent and promptly smashed another fist into his chest where a series of sickening crunches and snaps could be heard. He did all this without a sound, but his face had twisted into a scowl as if doing such a thing was a chore for him while Aubrey stood to the side in horror.

When Khan rose back to stand, Aubrey dashed over to Jonathan and immediately crouched at his side. "What the hell!" she shouted at the standing Augment as her hands fumbled over Jon's face as he struggled and failed to take in a breath. His whole body was convulsing in panic and his face was contorted with fear, but his eyes were trained on Aubrey with such confusion and pain that it made guilt begin to stir in her chest.

"He recognized me," Khan replied coldly, no trace of remorse for his actions evident in his tone.

"What the hell did you do to him?"

"I collapsed his trachea to hinder his breathing then I fractured multiple ribs and more than likely his sternum. His lungs have collapsed and due to his panic his diaphragm has gone into spasm. He is unable to breathe," he informed her nonchalantly.

"He's dying?" she cried as she watched Jon continue to struggle.

"A necessary precaution," he drawled again. Aubrey turned a fierce glare on him and if she didn't know any better she would have thought he rolled his eyes. "Do not feel as though this is your fault, Commander. It was he who approached us and brought his fate unto himself. Had he ignored my presence, he would still be alive."

"But did you have to kill him? You could have just knocked him out!" she snapped, her brows creasing as Jon continued to struggle to hold onto his fading life. There was nothing she could do for the sweet Irishman other than to just sit there and hold his shaking hand while his life wasted away. Despite Khan's reassurance –if it could have even been called that –she still felt responsible. She could have told him it was nothing and kept walking. She could have ignored him completely. She could have just said she had to get back to her office and would explain later during lunch. But she hadn't done any of those and now Jonathan lay dying beside her.

"And run the risk of him waking in an hour to warn others of my presence and your betrayal? I think not," he scoffed. Aubrey practically ignored him as she watched Jon's eyes flutter closed and his jolting chest begin to spasm less frequently. He was unconscious now; in another few moments he'd be dead and there was nothing she could do. When she refused to move from his side, she heard Khan step up next to her as his voice took on his usual dark cold tone. "We must move him."

Aubrey felt her temper flare and her head snapped up to give him one of her most deadliest of glares. "You've already killed the man, a good man mind you, and now you want to drag him around like a sack of potatoes?" she hissed at him.

Khan was unfazed by her boldness, but did narrow his eyes in annoyance. "If he is found lifeless outside the hangar I am supposed to be confined in with my crew then we will be discovered as well," he countered swiftly, his words leaving no room to argue. "If that happens then escaping will be much more difficult than it should be. Moving him is only logical if our plans are to succeed."

Aubrey grumbled and wanted to tell him how much he sounded like a Vulcan –particularly Spock –in that moment, but couldn't bring herself to deny what he said either. If Jon was found, they'd immediately check the hangar then the security tapes then they'd come to her office and they would both be arrested. As much as she hated to admit it, they needed to move on as quickly as possible to bide more time on planning. So, grudgingly, she nodded and stood to move to the side as Khan effortlessly dragged Jonathan's lifeless body into a large vent on the other side of the hallway.

Neither said a word as they moved at a brisk walk back to her office, but as calm and collected as Aubrey tried to seem her whole body felt like it was shaking violently. It only worsened when they reached a more trafficked area of the compound. There were greetings and good wishes thrown her way left, right and center and she tried her best to not seem as terrified of being caught as she felt. Khan was as silent as the grave at her side and didn't make eye contact or any sort of physical interaction with anyone they passed while Aubrey tried to smile at her coworkers who were blissfully oblivious to her inner turmoil.

By the time they reached her office, the halls had thinned of onlookers, but Khan was vigilant at keeping a sharp eye while she struggled to get the door open. When she finally did she rushed inside with Khan at her back and closed the door and locked it with a relieved sigh. She was thankful everyone was too preoccupied with their own work to give any notice of the silent man she had been with. If they had then the red alert would sound and every security officer in the compound would be hurtling in their direction. She was pretty sure Khan would leap into action if that happened, but she didn't want any more men dying just so they could escape. They already had enough trouble trying to get from the hangar to her office and she believed there was enough blood staining her hands already.

Without saying a word to Khan –who had already discarded her lab coat and draped it over the back of a chair –she went to her desk and flopped down onto her chair while slipping off her glasses and allowing them to drop to the desktop. Her elbows came to rest on the grey top and her head fell into her propped up hands with a sigh. The stress was mounting so quickly that she could already feel a headache beginning to form in her temples and her fingers deftly massaged at the aching areas. She wasn't sure what Khan was doing as she heard him slowly move around her office, but she found she didn't really care as long as she had a moment to collect her thoughts and calm down.

She was glad when he didn't intrude on her silence for several minutes and instead decided to roam around the room to look at the many knick knacks and pictures she had spread around in an almost unorganized fashion. She had since received a new PADD from one of her desk drawers and entered a false specifications report on the Augments in Hangar 16. She knew it wouldn't do much, but it would at least buy her and Khan some time to figure out what they were going to do next.

After several more minutes of silence Aubrey finally gathered the courage to look up at Khan who was now standing in the middle of her office looking around with those disturbingly intelligent eyes of his. He was taking everything in; every detail and it unnerved her slightly. Her office wasn't exactly the most spacious or glamorous and it was lacking creativity with its dull grey matching walls, floor and roof. The only thing that made it less dull was her array of objects and pictures adorning the shelf in the corner and on her desk.

"So," she said while leaning back in her seat. Khan didn't even turn to look at her and she rolled her eyes. "Got a plan yet?"

He gave a noncommittal hum as if he had pretended to hear her and chose to ignore her, but spoke a moment afterwards. "Yes."

She waited for him to elaborate, but he stayed silent. Raising an eyebrow she pressed on. "And?"

"How close is your home, Commander?"

Aubrey blinked in confusion at his abrupt question. "Not close by any means; a good hour I'd say." Khan gave another hum as his hands moved to clasp behind his back. "Why would you-? Oh." Understanding dawned on her and she paled visibly. She knew what he was thinking. "No. Absolutely not."

"Come now, Aubrey. I thought I had your full cooperation," he drawled lowly. A smirk graced his features once again as he took slow purposeful strides up to her desk and stared at her with those cold eyes of his. She could hear the warning and malice hidden in his tone, but she refused to let it affect her.

"I may have agreed to help you, but that doesn't mean you have the right to invade my home," she snapped angrily.

"Where else would you have us go? If what you say is true then my face will be recognized soon enough and anywhere we may attempt to flee will have unsavory results."

"Us?" Aubrey asked indignantly.

"Oh, yes. We are now in this together, you and I," he chuckled darkly, his hands coming from behind his back to lean on his fists as he placed them on his side of the desk. "Therefore my actions from this point forward will reflect on you as well. You are no longer safe so I suggest you stay at my side for protection."

"Protection," she scoffed disbelievingly with a shake of her head. "Only for you to dispose of me when I've fulfilled my purpose, correct?"

Khan's smile widened a fraction. "Naturally."

"No matter what you may think, there's nothing you can do or say to get me to tell you the codes."

His one brow raised and he hummed as it lowered again, a wistful smile replacing his arrogant one. "I wonder, Commander, how your sister is?" he said and Aubrey immediately froze. Khan's snide grin returned at her reaction. "She can't be faring too well, I imagine. Stage 4 Rigelian Ovarian Cancer is quite nasty after all."

Aubrey's hands clenched into fists on the armrests of her chair. She wasn't surprised he had figured out her sister was sick –he'd been looking at the photos on her shelf, after all –but she cursed her stupidity for not thinking he'd use Natasha against her. The manipulative bastard, he must have known she'd do anything for her last surviving family member, but how he knew her condition from just looking at the pictures on the shelf was astounding.

When she looked back at him with a glare she found him grinning smugly in triumph. He knew he had her in the palm of his hand now.

With her jaw clenched in anger and frustration she reluctantly relented. "So what's the plan then?"

Khan's grin grew even wider and his eyes even more malicious.


	4. Chapter 4

"No."

Khan's dark brow rose, his expression clearly unamused. So far, he found her stubborn attitude to be entertaining, but now it was just becoming a nuisance. As much as he admired her fiery spirit –which he no doubt intended to break someday soon –he had to resist snapping her neck out of pure annoyance. She still had her uses, after all. "No?" he echoed.

"No," she repeated adamantly. "I'm not going to seduce Harry with my 'feminine charm'." Here she rolled her eyes behind her glasses and Khan could just picture her lifting her hands to create quotations with her fingers much like the people of his century had once done.

Khan barely resisted the rolling of his own eyes. "If you do not then we will dispose of him," he said. When she made no reaction he continued. "_My way_."

He got the reaction he was looking for when she flinched noticeably.

After mentioning her sister, she hadn't questioned him on how he knew about her, but he could see the clear confusion –mixed with a heavy dosage of hate –in her eyes. She was definitely clever enough not to ask him how he knew as she probably knew full well that he would not oblige to answering such an unimportant question. He needed her full cooperation and using her family may have been a low blow, but it was necessary and he found he didn't care. Humans had used his family against him for much more trivial things. He wasn't above blackmail.

Finally she sighed, her shoulders slumping in defeat as she leaned back in her chair and Khan wanted to grin triumphantly, but maintained his intense stare. "Isn't there another way? Besides killing or flashing him, I mean."

"There are, but they would take more time. Time that we do not have," he replied brusquely. He was becoming impatient. "Do I have your cooperation, Aubrey?"

She threw him a sharp glare and he thought it was probably due to the fact she hadn't given him permission to call her by her first name yet. Again he did not care.

"You've had it since the moment you popped out of that damned cryotube," she grumbled. Khan couldn't help himself from letting out a low chuckle of amusement.

"I beg to differ. You have refuted my every command so far."

This actually made her smile at him as if she realized she had won some sort of victory over him. He didn't like it. "I have, haven't I?" she chuckled. "Although that doesn't seem to stop you or change your mind."

"You would be foolish to think anything or anyone can."

She gave another huff of laughter as she shook her head. "Figures." Then she sighed. "When I'm done my shift we will prepare –"

"No, we will do it now," he interrupted and she immediately stopped to stare at him with her mouth agape.

"Now?" she asked incredulously.

"The longer we linger here we run the risk of being discovered," he explained quickly. "The sooner we leave the more difficult it will be to find us."

"But I have work to do –"

"Leave it. It is no longer important."

Aubrey huffed and glared at him. He slowly grinned, knowing she hated it when he interrupted her and that made her even angrier. Briefly he thought she had an attitude that matched his people and whatever she lacked in physical strength, she certainly made up for in spirit. As soon as the thought occurred however, he quickly banished it from his mind; she was a lesser being –a human –one of Marcus' kind. She was a means to an end.

"Oh, I think it is," she snapped finally, her glare not lessening in the slightest. "I have two more rounds to make in Hangar 16 that I have to complete specifications for and not to mention my paper work. If I don't submit those then Starfleet Command will know something is wrong."

"You forget that I have already killed one of your guards. He will be discovered soon enough and when that happens we cannot be here," he growled back harshly. Her disobedience was really starting to grate on his nerves now. He saw her recoil slightly at his tone –and probably at the reminder of her dead comrade –but she tried to hide it by glaring right back at him.

Holding out his hand to her, he didn't allow them to break eye contact. "Give me your PADD."

"Why?" Her tone was even and she didn't make a move. She really was resilient.

He twitched his fingers in a motion for her to give it to him without a word and after a few more moments of hesitation, she finally lowered her eyes and handed the device over to him. He smiled triumphantly and promptly snatched the PADD from her outstretched fingers. With an ease that seemed like second nature his fingertips flew over the screen too fast for Aubrey to see the images, words and codes flashing along the transparent glass. Mere seconds later he was handing it back to her.

"The specifications are set to be submitted at 1200 and 1600 hours," he explained, his tone almost sounding bored as she accepted the PADD with a dumbstruck expression. "Are those times sufficient?"

"Uh…" she mumbled dumbly. "Yea –Yes, those are perfect." She cleared her throat gently as her eyes traveled back and forth between him and the PADD. "How did you do that? It should be impossible."

Khan gave a chuckle and paced away from the front of her desk only to slowly circle around the back and behind her chair. He watched her stiffen, but she didn't turn to watch him as he moved out of sight. "When I worked at Section 31 there were a multitude of override codes that I memorized quickly after being revived," he explained as his hands came to rest on the back of her chair. "Clearly your Starfleet wasn't intelligent enough to change some of those codes, especially since I wrote a few of them myself. It was simple to hack into the programme and set a timer." As his hands traveled higher, he placed them on her shoulders, enjoying the discomfort she was portraying even though she tried to hide it. Her shoulders were so tense he could feel every taunt band of muscle beneath his palms.

"If it's so easy, why not just hack in and find the codes for your crew?" she asked, but her voice wavered slightly with suppressed nervousness. He could tell she wasn't scared; no, she did not fear him. However, she didn't trust him and she was right not to.

"You Humans aren't_ that_ unintelligent," he scoffed. "Starfleet changed the override codes to that sort of access and although I would eventually gain entry, I find it far easier and amusing to use you, dear Aubrey."

"You really are a tyrant," she hissed at him. Was he seriously only keeping her alive to torture her with the waiting? To see her suffer not only physically, but mentally as well? How sick was that?

"I was a ruler of tyrants," he growled, his touch on her shoulders shifting from passive to taunt. His fingers tightened to the point where they seemed to dig into her collar bone. She didn't doubt bruises would form from such pressure only to match the ones forming around her neck. "And it was taken from me," he continued, his voice a harsh whisper by her ear. "Taken by those who feared our superiority. They drove us away only to entrap and threaten us once again." Aubrey felt his pressure on her shoulders increase as he turned her chair so that she was facing him and he glared down at her as if she was nothing more than the bug crushed beneath his boot. She was vermin to him; a mouse. And he was the cat.

"I assure you history will not repeat itself, Aubrey," he whispered again. "I will not be made a puppet of your vile species ever again. You can count on that."

Aubrey swallowed and stared into the deep depths of his seemingly endless gaze as it bore into her. "If you hate my species so much then why are you relying so heavily on me?" At first her voice shook, but gradually her strength returned and her tone held a confidence she didn't really feel.

He scoffed as he released her shoulders and straightened to stand and look down his nose at her. "I rely on no one, least of all you."

"Either you're lying to yourself or you are actually so smart you're a fool," she shot back snidely. "If you haven't noticed, I'm the one keeping you alive right now. _I_ helped you back in the hangar, _I_ helped you sneak into my office, _I_ will be aiding your escape from a high security, top secret facility run by the most powerful organization on the planet, _and_ _I_ will be hiding you in _my_ home while simultaneously adding myself to Starfleet's most wanted list! At any point in the past hour I could have called in and had you stopped, but I didn't!" She was vaguely aware that she was now standing and waving her communicator around like a madwoman while her chest heaved out of anger and frustration. It only made her angrier when he did nothing but stare back at her, seemingly unaffected. "If that, _Khan_, isn't you relying on me then I don't know what is."

As soon as the words left her mouth, she gasped as he snapped out his hand to knock the communicator away and as it smashed to pieces on the ground the same hand came to wrap his fingers around her neck just like he had before in Hangar 16 only this time instead of pushing her up against something he lifted her clear off the ground, her toes not even brushing the smooth tile anymore. She choked and sputtered and feebly attempted to smack his hand away, but unsurprisingly he didn't budge; he didn't even seem to be putting any effort into it, he just glared at her.

"I would advise you to think about your words more carefully before you speak them, Aubrey," he warned, his tone low and threatening. "Say the wrong thing and you may find yourself joining your dear Jonathan in an air vent. Do I make myself clear?"

He let her go then and the suddenness caused her to crumple to the floor unprepared for the impact as she coughed and heaved. Her throat was extremely sore at this point, but she figured getting choked three times in one morning by a superhuman would do that to you. She was pretty sure she had a bruise around her neck at this point; and she worried that Harry would definitely know something was up if he saw bruises in the form of handprints on her.

Throughout her musing she glared up at him, but he was of course unfazed. When she spoke next her voice was rough and weak and haggard. "… So, what's the plan then?"

His grin sent a trickle of fear down her spine.

* * *

As it turned out, Harry did notice the bruising and hadn't even bothered to pay attention to her 'seductress' act. The moment she was close enough, he spotted the discolored skin and immediately jumped from his chair to rush to her and grasp her at the shoulders. He shook her and demanded she tell him who had done such a thing to her, not even noticing that Aubrey's hair was no longer in the conservative bun she always had it in. Instead he shook her and babbled until he was blue in the face, too frantic to let her get a word in or to realize there was someone approaching behind him.

Khan, who had snuck along a few side hallways, appeared from a small opening in the wall just behind Harry and swiftly approached to bash an elbow into the back of his head. The security guard collapsed against Aubrey and the poor woman tried her best to hold the older man up long enough to lower him safely to the ground. Once she was on her knees with Harry laid out before her as she cradled his head Khan crouched by his side to search his pockets.

After several moments of scavenging, he finally rose after claiming Harry's identification card and phaser to move over to the man's desk. Aubrey made sure that Harry's head was set down gently -while apologizing profusely to the unconscious man- before slinking over to Khan's side where he sat at the chair working his fingers over the various PADDs and displays.

"Did you dispose of him?" he asked calmly without missing a beat. He didn't even pause in his mad typing and swiping.

"No, he's unconscious on the floor where you left him," she spat back.

"Where _you_ left him, Commander," he corrected unfazed.

"You honestly think I'm strong enough to lift a 200 pound man?" she snapped angrily. "I don't know what I look like to you but I am certainly no body builder!"

He paused only for a moment to twist in his seat and give her a look before going back to his hacking with an impatient sigh. "I continue to forget you are not one of my people," he grumbled quietly. It was difficult to hear over the thudding of his fingers over the desktop and how softly he had spoken it, but Aubrey heard it nonetheless leaving her confused.

It was obvious with his tone that he didn't expect –or possibly even want –her to hear him, but she had. And now she was left wondering what he meant. He knew damn well she wasn't an Augment; he had just been shouting to her about how human she was just a few minutes ago. However now was not the time to bring it up.

Her last thought was confirmed when the power suddenly died and the main lights around them went out leaving the immediate area pitch black. Immediately Aubrey grasped the edge of the desk to make sure she wouldn't lose her footing as she wildly glanced around. But a hand grasped her wrist soon after, followed by one at her waist that made her nearly jump out of her skin. When the hands pulled at her she resisted, digging her heals into the ground as best as she could.

"The power will only be out for a few seconds, Aubrey, we must go," she heard Khan whisper to her sharply while giving another tug. "The scanner is off and we must go through before the power returns."

With another, more forceful, tug they were off with Khan in the lead and dragging Aubrey at his side as she stumbled in the dark. It was still pitch black after several minutes and Aubrey slowly came to realize that he had lied to her and only told her they would be on soon to get her to move faster. Immediately after discovering this she wanted to kick him, but instead glared into the blackness where she knew he'd be.

"How the hell can you see where we're going? Better yet, how do you know? I've been here five years and I still don't know these halls well enough to walk around blindfolded," she snapped irritably as he pulled her around a corner harshly.

"My eyesight supersedes yours by 50 percent and I memorized a map of the compound back in your office," he explained nonchalantly.

Aubrey blanched, knowing there was no map of the facility anywhere in her office. "What? When?"

"When I programmed your PADD for timed submission I took the chance to glance over the layout of this facility," he replied.

"You had my PADD for less than 30 seconds," Aubrey stated dumbly.

"I read fast," he deadpanned. "And my memory is superb."

"Clearly."

He led her around corners and down hallways, ducking and running and creeping. It was quite clear to Aubrey that he was not using the main entrance that she normally used –which would have been stupid if he did –but she found she had no clue as to where he was going instead. It was still dark and she could hear the commotion from other Starfleet personnel all around them and echoing off of the walls. When they were in another smaller area that was void of any others, Aubrey took the opportunity to speak.

"How long will the lights be off?"

"Approximately another five minutes," he responded dully as he stopped at a corner before dashing down the adjacent hallway with her in tow.

"And where are we going?" she continued.

"The parking garage."

"But I don't have a car."

"Harry did."

Aubrey blinked and took a moment to process this then without thinking smacked his arm that was closest to her. Now that her eyes had adjusted somewhat to the light she was able to see a vague outline of him, but running around corridors was still difficult. At her weak assault he paused to glance back at her, but said nothing. "You stole his car keys?" she asked incredulously. She hadn't even noticed he took them earlier.

"Yes," he simply replied.

Aubrey let out a groan of annoyance. This man would be the death of her sanity.

Khan led them out of the complex with what Aubrey could only describe as ease. There was no hesitation to his calculated steps or to which route he took and soon they were climbing a small engineer's shaft and afterwards found themselves in large parkade that was at least 2 football fields wide and long with 5 floors. Finding Harry's car was going to be a nightmare and Aubrey worried they might be caught before they were able to make it to the damnable machine.

She stood there dumbstruck at how large the parkade was as she'd never been there before in all her five years working for the secret facility –she'd never had reason to. She then looked to Khan who also stood silently at her side, his eyes roaming over the vehicles nearby.

"Too bad you wanted to get out of here quickly," she scoffed laughingly. Khan gave her a wry, unamused look which she ignored. "It's going to be _fun_ trying to find the car in this mess."

He didn't even reply. Instead he just lifted his right hand which held the car keys and pressed a button on the small remote. A light beeping noise emitted and then the front of the device where a tiny LED flashlight rested detached itself and floated in front of them. The flashlight then turned on with a blue glow and the beeping continued as it started moving away from them. Aubrey watched it in fascination as it floated off at a decent pace and only moved when Khan began to follow it.

"What the hell is that?" she asked.

"Tracking device," he explained. "All models made after 2190 are equipped with it. Ideal for large parking garages such as this."

Aubrey blinked as they picked up their pace when the tracker sped up. "Oh, well that explains it then."

"Explains what?" he asked thought he didn't actually sound interested in her answer.

"It explains why I've never heard of it before. The only car I ever owned was made in 2162. After it died I didn't bother getting a new one and decided to take the bus or taxi instead," she replied, her tone only slightly haggard from their jogging.

Khan raised an eyebrow and glanced at her curiously. "Have you never seen advertisements for such things?"

"I don't have television and could care less about reading magazines," she laughed. "I prefer real books to gossip."

Khan didn't reply except for a noncommittal hum as the tracker let out a few quick louder beeps and the light flashed as it hovered over a blue car that Aubrey didn't care to know the make of. Khan pressed the same button on the remote as he had before and the tracker stopped flashing and beeping to float back over and reattach itself. He then pressed another button and the clunking of the locks releasing echoed in the parkade.

Without another word, Khan moved to the driver's side door as Aubrey shuffled over to the passengers. Within moments, he had the car started and hovering peacefully in the parking stall as he looked behind him to make sure there were no other cars to ram into. After Aubrey buckled herself in she reached over to the center console to turn off the country music that had begun to play when the engine started –she had noticed Khan's frown of distaste –then proceeded to enter her address into the built in GPS unit. Minutes later they joined the gaggle of busy traffic in silence.


	5. Chapter 5

Khan was a much better driver than Aubrey had anticipated. She thought he'd be like any other madman she'd seen in the movies; swerving in and out of traffic without any care for other drivers, speeding 10 miles over the limit, fishtailing around corners, and running red lights. On the contrary he was a rather placid driver. He even used his blinker and put two hands on the steering wheel. It was the last thing she expected from a man as reckless as a teenager on steroids and she watched him –not so discreetly –as he drove them through the streets of San Francisco in one of the many air lanes of traffic with interest.

Neither of them had said a word after leaving the parking garage. Aubrey sat quietly in her seat watching Khan as the Augment kept his intense gaze on what he was doing. Other than the hum of the vehicle and the occasional instruction of the GPS they were enveloped completely in silence and had Aubrey not already been used to Khan's silent nature –which shocked even her considering her situation and the little amount of time they have spent together thus far –she would have felt uncomfortable.

Not to say she didn't feel uncomfortable sitting shotgun with a murderer in a friend's stolen car. Just not the same kind she expected to feel.

It was strange that only after knowing him for a few short hours and having extensive knowledge on his behavior and previous acts of tyranny that she was almost relaxed in his presence. She should have been huddling against the door as far away from him as possible, should have been watching him with fear, not interest, and her heart should have been pounding with anxiety –especially after watching him kill a friend and put another out of commission and knowing that she was eventually going to die by his hands. But she felt none of that. She felt calm, actually. It made her wonder if she was going psychotic as well.

"Do you have nothing better to do than to stare at me?" He suddenly asked, the question startling Aubrey for a moment. She blinked at him and opened her mouth to reply, but nothing immediately came out as she observed him. He was still staring out the windshield and had he not spoken as loudly as he had, she would have been sure he never did.

"Um…" she mumbled and blinked again as she finally looked away from him in embarrassment. "Sorry, I just… Didn't expect you to be such a good driver."

The hint of amusement in his voice when he spoke next wasn't hard to miss. "What did you expect, exactly?"

Aubrey shrugged. "Well, I definitely thought we'd be chased down by cops at this point and avoiding crashing into other cars as we made our miraculous escape," she replied sarcastically. "I didn't think we'd be going 15 behind an old lady in a school zone."

Khan chuckled. "Surprised to discover so much about me that isn't in the files, Aubrey?" he smirked. Her head snapped back around to glare at him sharply.

"How did you-"

"As the protector that you claim to be of me and my people you would have been made aware of every detail of us Starfleet had at their disposal. We are painted as tyrants with little to no care for others," he interrupted, his voice rising in volume to make sure whatever she was about to say was cut off effectively –though he really didn't have to since his baritone voice did that perfectly well enough. Aubrey also didn't miss the scowl on his lips as he glared out the window. If he wasn't driving she knew she'd be on the receiving end of such a nasty look. "While I assure you we do not hesitate to do what is necessary to protect ourselves and those close to us, we do not needlessly take lives unless provoked." Finally he tore his gaze from the traffic ahead to give her a meaningful look as she watched in him in awe. "Though our record says otherwise, we do care." Then he looked away as if embarrassed and Aubrey would have thought he was had he not still been glaring and clenching his teeth in anger. "Furthermore, I do not want to attract unwanted attention to us with driving recklessly. My habits will ensure we reach your home with no hindrances."

Aubrey was stunned into silence, definitely not expecting that type of answer. She was expecting him to damage her pride, to put down her species –anything of that sort. Maybe she had judged the Augments too much. Maybe she was just as ignorant as everyone else and have been blinded by their past too much to give them a chance. It sickened her; she was no better than Marcus as far as she was concerned.

But as much as Khan claimed they were not weak and didn't tolerate weakness, she was starting to see that his hard exterior was just a cover for how betrayed and used he felt by those who were supposed to have treated him as another person and not a machine. He had never felt love the way she felt with her family because he was a genetic experiment and had been raised to be used in battle for others' own selfish reasons. As a result the other Augments had become his family and he felt a strong need to protect them from the humans that had treated them so poorly.

Aubrey was beginning to see this all now with guilt taking over her entire being. Not just for the way they had been treated by Marcus, but by the scientists that had created them as well. They never felt the love of a parent, only the fierce prejudice they had been born into. Since birth they were nothing more than cattle. It made Aubrey's heart break just thinking about the cruelty of it all.

She wanted to tell him how sorry she felt for him and the other Augments, but she was thankfully cut off by the automated voice of the GPS. "Turn right. Then continue 1 mile to destination on left," the female voice said. She had to suppress breathing a sigh of relief; a man like Khan wouldn't respond well to pity.

When he turned left instead of right and began heading in the opposite direction of her house, she became confused. The GPS was as well, because the moment he turned the voice spoke again almost sounding agitated. "Recalculating. Recalculating. Recalcu-"

His right hand left the wheel only for a moment to turn off the GPS and effectively stop the annoyed device. Aubrey though, couldn't help but ask what was going on. "Where are you going? My house is that way," she said while pointing a thumb over her shoulder and giving him an odd look.

Khan gave a sigh and she was sure he rolled his eyes too. "Starfleet would be able to track the car to your home. Your intelligence seems to have dimmed since we first met, Commander."

Aubrey glared at him and huffed in annoyance as she crossed her arms over her chest, wanting nothing more than to curse him to high heaven. "Sorry, I'm new to this whole against the law thing," she snapped back at him. "Though I'm assuming we're going to leave the car somewhere hard to find and you're going to somehow make sure the GPS could not be traced to having my address being entered into it. My guess is you'll probably punch a hole into it. Then we're going to _walk_ to my house with some sort of disguise we'll somehow find somewhere close." Her tone had grown bored, but there was still the bite of sarcasm to it as he pulled into an alley and lowered the car to the ground amongst the garbage at the dead end of the lane.

Once he was parked and the car turned off he turned to smirk at her. "Ah, there you are," he congratulated and Aubrey glared at him. "We'll make a criminal out of you yet."

He then opened the sunroof of the car and gracefully pulled himself out. Aubrey was confused at first but when she looked out the windows of the vehicle she found that the walls of the buildings on either side were so close that the doors wouldn't have been able to open far enough to let them out. Hiding the fact that she was impressed with his skills at not damaging the car on the way down, she crawled out after him. He was still crouching on the roof looking around to make sure they weren't being watched and when she was out of the way, he silently gestured for her to make her way off the car towards the back. Without question, she did so and when she was out of the way, he reached back in through the roof and did exactly as she had guessed only moments before; he smashed his fist into the center dashboard and destroyed the GPS as easily as if it had been made with paper.

As soon as that was done, he slid down the back of the car and joined her at her side with a small smirk. She raised an eyebrow at him smartly and crossed her arms over her chest. "And the disguises?"

He quirked an eyebrow back at her, but didn't reply as he made his way towards the entrance of the alleyway. Aubrey followed with quickened steps to catch up with him, her arms wrapping even tighter around herself to ward off the slight chill she now felt in the September air. Upon reaching the end of the alley, he held out a hand behind him as a signal for her to stop as he peered around the corner onto the busy streets where pedestrians walked completely unaware of them. Aubrey obeyed without a word, already knowing that his sneaking skills far surpassed hers, and waited.

"Are you ready?" he asked suddenly.

Aubrey blinked in confusion. "Ready for what?"

He shifted so that he could give her an exasperated look, but did not reply as he turned back away from her. The next thing she knew Khan was reaching out of the alley and snatching two unsuspecting people off the street and tossing them to the rough concrete at Aubrey's feet. She immediately jumped back, completely startled as the innocent people, a man in an expensive looking suite, fedora and holding a briefcase and a woman in a short blue dress with a giant yellow purse, cried out in equal surprise.

"She's yours," Khan stated simply before stalking towards the businessman.

"What?!" Aubrey snapped in disbelief, but Khan of course ignored her.

The woman on the ground before her began to cry and blubber as she shifted so she was sitting on her knees and thrusting her purse at the redhead. Her head was bowed as she sputtered and shook. "Take it! Just take it and let me go! Please!" she begged, still shaking her purse at Aubrey who stood stock still and stared down at the brunette in horror. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed the businessman Khan was dealing with was splayed out on the concrete, Khan himself standing above him and staring over at Aubrey expectantly. "Please, take anything you want, just don't hurt me…" the woman continued, her voice thick with emotion.

As Aubrey slowly came out of her daze she frowned deeply and looked over at Khan with the fiercest glare she could muster. "No," she told him while shaking her head adamantly. She then began to walk towards him with an angry finger waving around and pointing at him. "I _will not_ harm an innocent woman just to take her clothes! When I agreed to help you, I didn't think it would entail me physically injuring others!"

Khan's eyebrow rose challengingly as she thrust her finger in his face. She could still hear the woman sobbing behind her. "What exactly did you think was going to be expected of you, Aubrey?" he hissed dangerously. "You thought you could just be an innocent bystander? Watch as others suffered at my hands while you do nothing?"

"I _can't_ do anything! You have the strength of a goddamn elephant!" she roared.

Suddenly he was in her face and she was so startled she had to take a step back, but he followed her easily. "I intend to _break_ you," he growled darkly, his intense gaze never leaving her face and Aubrey found she was too transfixed to even attempt to look away. "I am going to beat out _every single_ _thing_ Starfleet has taught you. And when that is done…" He grinned maliciously. "I am going to have you beg for mercy before I kill you like the pathetic human that you are."

Aubrey swallowed, the trickle of fear returning to her spine. Without breaking eye contact, Khan pointed to the woman still huddled behind her. "Morals are a weakness. Now it is time to toss them aside."

The redhead's gaze flickered from Khan to the woman then back to him and she took a deep breath before replying with a stubborn, "No."

His already angry expression darkened even further into fury and without a word, he stalked passed Aubrey and approached the woman. She saw him coming and immediately began to cry harder at seeing the look of rage on his face. "No! Please no, I-!"

She didn't even have a chance to finish her sentence before Khan was in front of her and gripping either side of her head. With a sudden twist and sickening series of snaps her neck was broken and she was silent as Khan released her to slump to the ground dead. Aubrey flinched, but Khan merely turned back around, unfazed, and began walking towards the businessman. He stopped at her side as he passed, but she didn't dare look at him, her gaze was fixed on the now dead woman only a few feet away.

"She did not need to die," he told her calmly and Aubrey gritted her teeth in anger. "If you had only done as I asked she would simply be unconscious and would live to see her family again." She closed her eyes as a whole new wave of guilt crashed over her. The pity she felt for him only minutes ago seemed like years away in the wake of her current hatred for him. "I do intend to break your spirit. Until I do, every time you disobey an order like that I will kill them myself." He then leaned closer to her ear to whisper and it only made him sound more menacing. "I will not be so merciful with the next one. Your morals will not be so precious to you when they are what kill the people you are so desperate to save."

He paused to stare at her, but she refused to look back. Several beats of silence passed before he spoke again, satisfied that she wasn't about to make any rebuttal anytime soon. "Undress her and replace your clothes with hers."

With that last order he stalked back over to his prey who still lay motionless on the ground where he'd left him. Aubrey spent a little more time staring at the woman before finally relenting and slowly approaching her. It was with tons of guilt and multiple whispered 'I'm sorrys' that the redhead finally removed the brunette's clothes and flashy low blue heels from her lifeless body, being careful with her limp neck even though she was already dead. Before changing, she made sure to hide behind a dumpster in case Khan decided to turn around and peak, but the moment she had finished putting the woman's dress on she immediately frowned.

It was short. Extremely short.

Her Starfleet uniform was already at a length that she barely felt comfortable with wearing publically, but this dress was pushing her modest boundaries a little too far. The dress had been a decent length for the other woman, but Aubrey's torso was a tad longer it seemed and it caused the dress to just barely pass her rear. She was almost too embarrassed to step back out and face Khan, but she knew that if she didn't he'd just come and get her anyway. Holding the bundle of her old clothes in front of her she slowly stepped out from behind the dumpster with her head held high, trying her best to not seem as uncomfortable as she felt.

Khan was already dressed in the businessman's suit and fedora and was fixing the cufflinks when her eyes landed on him. She almost stopped short in surprise. She knew he was a handsome man –you would have to be blind not to think so –what with his strong physique which was now mostly masked by the crisp black suit. And of course there were his intimidating yet enchanting blue eyes. Though she hated the man thoroughly, she was still a woman and couldn't deny that he was attractive. Especially now when he decided to leave the suit jacket open, a few buttons at the top of the dress shirt undone, foregoing the striped tie and casually wearing the black fedora over his perfectly combed back dark hair. If he wasn't such an asshole, Aubrey would have been tempted to flirt with the man and that almost made her sick to her stomach.

He spotted her moments after she was finished ogling him –although he was probably well aware of her presence before looking up –and he eyed her appreciatively in return. She frowned and moved the bundle in her hands so that she was covering herself a little more modestly while giving him a glare. He simply smirked at her and then gestured her to come closer. She did so reluctantly.

When she came to his side he took her old clothes from her and tore off a strip of her uniform then tossed the rest to the ground. Aubrey flinched slightly when he did so; not out of fear, but out of sadness. She already knew she would never be able to return to Starfleet, but seeing her uniform get torn up made the reality of it all the more real. Yes, it was uncomfortable, but it was a symbol of when her life used to be normal and though it had only been a few hours since everything started it already felt like a lifetime.

Khan turned the now mostly naked man over onto his front while bringing his hands behind his back to tie them with the strip of her uniform. Even though he wasn't moving, Aubrey knew he was alive –thankfully. Khan wouldn't be wasting his time with tying the man up if he was dead. Once he was finished he grabbed the man roughly under the arms and began to drag him over to the dumpster Aubrey had changed behind and deposited him in front of it. Next he went over to the woman and picked her up as well only this time when he dragged her over to the dumpster, he tossed her inside without a care. The briefcase was next placed beside the man and the woman's purse was scoured for money before being tossed inside the dumpster along with its master. Aubrey had to suppress another flinch of guilt by trying to distract herself with taking the hairband on her wrist and beginning to tie her hair up into her usual bun.

She was so focussed on the menial task that she didn't notice Khan come up behind her until his hand was stopping the movement of hers. She froze immediately, but Khan didn't seem to notice –or care –as he nudged her hands away and removed the hairband from her partially done-up hair. The red locks fell back to her shoulders and she could feel his hand gently brush over the length of the strands at the back of her head. Neither of them said a word as he continued his ministrations with combing his fingers through her hair and brushing it over her shoulders.

"I prefer you with your hair down," he drawled lowly right next to her ear. She felt his fingers begin to brush along her neck when she finally recoiled away from him and turned to give him a glare to which he only chuckled in amusement. If he wasn't still holding her hair tie she would have put her hair up just to spite him and there was no way she was going to attempt to snatch it from him.

Crossing her arms over her chest she frowned. "Are we done here?" she asked impatiently, more than ready to leave.

Khan chuckled again, but didn't otherwise reply as he tucked the black band into the inside of his breast pocket, smirking at her all the while. Her glare didn't waver even when his taunting smirk grew before he started towards the entrance of the alleyway with Aubrey reluctantly in tow.


	6. Chapter 6

**Extra long chapter this time, guys :) I know this story isn't very popular yet, but I'm hoping it will be soon. Enjoy!**

* * *

Once Aubrey and Khan left the alley, he had snatched up her arm and linked it around his own. Of course she had resisted, but a sharp glare from the Augment had her forcing herself not to make a scene. Though her posture was still tense, she allowed Khan to tuck her hand into the crook of his arm while placing his free one over hers –she suspected it was a silent warning for her not to fight him. To anyone else it looked as if they were a couple taking a nice stroll on the streets of San Francisco, but upon closer inspection those people would have seen the hidden scowl on Aubrey's face and the stony expression on Khan's.

They walked like that for some time, going at a leisurely yet swift pace. Both of their eyes darted around, aware that there could be Starfleet officers anywhere with the potential to recognize them.

But it wasn't Starfleet that ended up getting the jump on them, but rather a small gang of street thugs ready to rob them.

It happened so fast that Aubrey had hardly registered what was happening until she was being held to someone's chest with a hand over her mouth. She tried to scream for Khan, but the man was busy handling his own attackers. While only one was needed to subdue Aubrey, it took the other six to even get Khan to the ground.

And he did not seem happy at all, if the murderous gleam in his eyes was any indication. These men wouldn't stand a chance against his Augmented strength, she was sure of it. Khan was a machine, built to perfection; these guys were thugs with no more training than random street fights.

So it didn't come as a shock to her when Khan lashed out with hardly any effort and sent two men flying into the brick wall behind him. They were knocked out cold immediately, but the other four were effectively terrified. And they were right to be too; Khan had thrown those men five feet in the air with hardly a flick of his hand. His eyes were wild as he peered at them through a curtain of black hair, a sadistic grin pulling at his lips. Aubrey knew then that there was no saving these men's lives. Not that she really wanted to considering the one that was holding her smelled like urine and alcohol and was currently roughly groping at her breasts while he sniffed at her hair. She could feel his body shaking against her and she sneered in disgust behind his hand. But no amount of struggling on her part would make him let her go.

That is until Khan took down two more men with a single punch to each in the temple as they came at him. The man behind her jumped when they landed in front of them in a heap then tore himself away from her with a curse. He shoved her into the wall behind her while ordering her to stay there as he pulled a phaser from the back of his pants. Khan, who was too busy with the other two men, didn't notice when the phaser was aimed straight at his head.

Aubrey didn't even think before she acted and the next thing she knew, she was leaping at the man while shouting Khan's name in warning. Khan turned just in time as Aubrey tackled the man from behind, but in his surprise he pulled the trigger and sent a shot in Khan's direction, who ducked just before it connected with his head. As they fell to the ground, the phaser was knocked from his grasp and clattered a few feet away. She was vaguely aware of Khan disposing of the last two men before making a dive for the phaser. The man began to rise and go after her, yelling curses at her as he grabbed for her ankle, but she managed to grab the phaser and turn it on him and shoot.

He fell like a sack of potatoes into her lap and she immediately squirmed from underneath him with heavy breaths. Adrenaline rushed through her veins as she glared at the heap in front of her and only looked away when she heard footsteps approaching her.

Immediately she brought the phaser up again and aimed it in the direction of the sound, pausing when she saw Khan. He stopped short as well and merely stared at her with a raised eyebrow when she didn't lower the weapon. Around them lay the bodies of their attackers; either unconscious or dead, Aubrey wasn't sure. Right now she was in a stare down with a murderous Augment who just incapacitated six men.

"Aubrey…" he drawled quietly when she still didn't lower the phaser. "Well done, I am quite proud of you."

She couldn't help but be confused. Why the hell would he be proud? Because she had stunned one man and was now pointing the same weapon right between his eyes?

"It was self defense," she growled back at him.

He chuckled lowly and shook his head at her. "I didn't expect you to take a life so soon. You are not as moral as you seem to think you are."

Her eyes narrowed. "What the hell are you talking about? The phaser is on stun."

His brow quirked and a smirk shone in his bright eyes. "Is it?"

Aubrey blinked and she hesitated as a feeling of dread passed through her. Had she…? But the phaser… Oh dear god, what had she done?!

Immediately her eyes left Khan to look at the phaser, terrified she'd see that glowing red indicator telling her it was indeed set to kill. Her eyes narrowed when she saw the blue light instead and she mentally cursed at being tricked so easily, but by that time it was already too late.

Khan was in front of her in a flash and snatching the device from her fingers. A sudden sharp pain in her left cheek then let her know that he had hit her as she fell to the ground while holding a hand to her face. When she pulled it away there was a streak of blood upon her palm.

That bastard had actually struck her! With a goddamn phaser! Choking was one thing –she didn't even want to know what those bruises would look like –but _hitting_ her was another.

She stared up at him in shock, though she really shouldn't have been considering she knew what he was like. He only returned her look with a disapproving one of his own. After tucking the phaser into the back of his pants, he crouched in front of her while gently cupping her chin. She could see the growing anger in his eyes as they bore into her own and his grip gradually increased.

"Do not _ever_ point a weapon at me again, Aubrey. Am I clear?" he growled darkly. She didn't reply and instead returned his heated stare with equal anger. "Next time, you will not be so lucky."

He lightened his grip enough to gently stroke her chin with the pad of his thumb then released her completely as he stood upright and moved around her to the man she had stunned. She turned away and grit her teeth knowing what was coming next and proceeded to stand and dust off her dress.

She stood off to the side waiting for Khan to finish 'taking care' of the seven men. She knew he was just going to each and making sure they were all dead before they moved on. When he was finished, he replaced the fedora that had fallen to the ground on his head and came to her side again. She didn't resist him when he tucked her hand into his elbow just as before and lead her out of the alley as if nothing had happened.

The rest of the walk back to her house went thankfully uninterrupted. There were no more thugs to jump them or any police or Starfleet members to recognize them. And when they reached her front door, she opened it with a relieved sigh.

She didn't even bother inviting Khan in, knowing he'd follow after her anyway. Dropping her keys on the table in the hallway she moved farther in to the kitchen on the right and glanced at the clock on her stove. She huffed in annoyance. It was barely 1200 hours. It seemed like a month had passed since meeting this madman when it had barely been seven hours. She was more than ready for all this madness to end.

Khan gave a noncommittal hum behind her and she turned to see him looking around her living room which could be seen easily from the kitchen. It was decorated much in the same way as her office; a few pictures on the walls, a few shelves with random objects and reading PADDs adorning it, a plain red couch with a matching loveseat and a glass coffee table. It wasn't much to look at.

"What?" she snapped at him, annoyed with his behavior. She realized that even if he was smiling and complimenting her on her simple taste in décor, she still would have wanted to kick him in an area she was sure would hurt even for an Augment.

He didn't turn to look at her as he spoke next. "Your lack of artistic expression is disappointing yet at the same time not unexpected."

She rolled her eyes. "Well, sorry if my house isn't to your liking. I didn't realize I'd be trying to impress a three hundred year old psychopath with a nice living room."

He gave a derisive scoff. "I am not psychotic, Aubrey."

"Could have fooled me."

He turned a glare on her then moved to have a seat on the couch, his back ramrod straight as his eyes continued to roam about the room. Aubrey stood in the kitchen for a few awkward moments before finally making her way to the living room as well. However she stopped when Khan suddenly spoke again.

"I would like something to eat," he said.

She stopped and stared at the back of his head. "So?"

"So, get me something. I awoke from cryosleep several hours ago and have not yet had sustenance."

"Get your own damn food," she snarled back at him.

He turned his head just slightly to stare at her in that way that made her uncomfortable. "I am a guest here, Aubrey. As a good host, it would be impolite to refuse such a request." She could see the taunting smirk pulling at the corner of his lips and she scowled. What was stopping him from shooting her if she still said no? It would have been ridiculous, of course, but the man _was_ crazy so she wouldn't put it past him.

With a frustrated huff, she marched back into the kitchen to prepare a meal of leftovers for him. She piled a chicken breast, peas, mashed potatoes and a slice of garlic bread onto a plate, not even bothering to be neat. She debated not even heating it up for him, but thought better of it when she caught him watching her intently from the couch. Throwing the plate of food into the replicator that doubled as a mini oven, she waited the few seconds for it to be done.

The machine beeped and she removed it quickly then deposited it onto the small dining table in the corner. After retrieving a fork and knife and placing them on either side of the plate she turned to face him expectantly while placing her hands on her hips. He only stared back at her, unblinkingly.

"I'm not your maid. You can come eat at the table like polite guests are _supposed _to do," she quipped. Of course, she couldn't care less if he ate in the kitchen or the living room; she just wanted to feel some ounce of control around him. Ever since she met him, he's had all the control; not once did she get to call the shots. Now, since they were in _her_ home, she felt a sense of authority come back to her even though she knew it was foolish.

Khan's eyebrow rose slowly, but he nonetheless did as she requested –more like ordered. She was actually surprised; she had a feeling that he would refuse and threaten her with the phaser to bring it to him where he sat. He took slow purposeful steps in her direction, his gaze never leaving hers until he was seated at the table where she had set out the meal for him.

He commenced eating in silence and Aubrey stood to the side unsure of what to do next. He hadn't been angry with her sharp attitude and it made her nervous. Was he waiting for later to lash out at her? Was he purposely making her worry to the point of paranoia? Or was he actually accommodating to her house rules? Maybe he did have some kind of respect towards her after all.

Immediately she shook her head to rid herself of the ridiculous thought. Khan Noonien Singh respected no one other than himself. Ugh, she was starting to get a headache from all these conflicting thoughts. She needed to lie down.

Finally she took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Well, if you don't need anything else, I'm going to have a nap," She mumbled tiredly. Khan didn't even lift his head to acknowledge her statement and it made her sigh in irritation. "The couch is all yours if you need one too. It isn't always easy to ignore the effects of cryosleep, especially when waking up the way you did."

With those parting words she slipped from the kitchen and down the hall to her room, wishing that the shutting of her door was more than just a soft hiss to make the conversation –if you could even call it that –final. Deciding to toss it from her mind, she made her way to the adjoining bathroom while peeling off the stolen dress and shoes and tossing it into the corner of the room. By the time she reached the bathroom she was only in her panties, her bra having been discarded onto the floor on her way. She was determined to forget there was a psychopathic superhuman in her kitchen eating her leftovers.

She dressed herself in the black tank top and fuzzy green shorts she usually wore to bed that she had left in the bathroom that morning and proceeded to brush her teeth and relieve herself. After she was done, she washed her hands, deposited her glasses onto the counter and splashed a few handfuls of cold water over her face with a sigh. After drying her face she trudged back into her room, already feeling the events of the morning catching up with her. Yawning, she stumbled over to her bed and flopped down, pulling the soft heavy covers over her and up to her chin. She must have been so out of it that she didn't hear her door whoosh open. If she had though, she would have more than likely dismissed it as Truffle coming in to sleep at the foot of the bed.

She did, however, feel it when a weight heavier than her cat was suddenly applied behind her back, her mattress dipping noticeably. She immediately jumped and moved to shoot away from Khan, as she knew it only could have possibly been him –the cat wasn't _that_ fat –but he seized her wrist with a speed no other man could match. He wrenched her back so that they were pressed flush together, her back to his chest –which she noted with a small amount of horror was _bare_ –and wrapped his arm securely around her waist, trapping her writhing limb beneath it. In mere seconds, he had her subdued and stuck against his form. With another bout of horror she realized he was under the covers _with_ her and that his legs were also bare as they tangled with hers –no doubt to keep them from kicking him. She severely hoped he had the decency to keep his undergarments on…

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she snapped angrily, attempting to wriggle out of his grasp even though she knew it was futile. "When I said the couch was all yours, I meant that you would be sleeping on _it_. _Not here_."

"I am fully aware of what you meant," he replied calmly, his warm breath dancing along the back of her neck as he buried his nose into her hair. Goosebumps prickled along her skin and caused her hair to stand on end as she felt the vibration of his deep voice rumble from his chest and against her back. As much as she tried to suppress it, she felt a shiver course down her spine. "However, since I cannot trust that you will not betray me just yet, you will remain within my sight at all times."

"This is ridiculous. What the hell am I going to do while sleeping?" she grumbled, wriggling again only to find his hold around her waist and at her legs tighten ever so slightly. Deciding it was pointless, she forced her body to relax. After several seconds, his hold loosened the slightest bit, but she had no doubt that were she to move again he'd tense.

"I'll save you the embarrassment of answering such a mundane question with the obvious, Commander. I suggest you make yourself comfortable with it and rest."

"How am I supposed to rest when I'm being held captive? In my own house, might I add! I might as well be wearing handcuffs," she retorted irritably, but nevertheless shifted so that her bottom hand slipped under where her head rested on her pillow.

"I would not be opposed to that idea," he chuckled behind her ear and she was tempted to try and elbow him or hit him in some sort of way. "Try to not think of it as captivity and instead as protection. If any unfavorable circumstances occur during your rest, I am here to defend you." Again, she felt his nose brush the back of her skull as he spoke, his breath warming her skin. Good lord, this man was insufferable.

"Because that makes me feel so much better," she said sarcastically. Was he really so self-righteous that he had to protect her long enough in order to kill her himself? "And I'll have you know I'm perfectly capable of defending myself."

"As you demonstrated in the alley. However, you will not have the need to with me here, now hush and rest."

His clipped tone left no room for argument and with a huff of annoyance Aubrey conceded. Surprisingly, it didn't take her long to fall asleep, as she was so tired she didn't care there was a dangerous man clutching her to his chest like a teddy bear. Minutes after she fell silent her breathing slowed and every muscle in her body relaxed into slumber as Khan's warmth and even breathing lulled her into a deep and dreamless slumber.

* * *

When she awoke, Aubrey felt like she was wrapped in a pool of warmth. She was so relaxed and sleep-drunk that her limbs had no strength even if she wanted to move –her eyelids wouldn't even open. With a content sigh she found she didn't want them to; she only wanted to go back into the realm of sleep where she would never have to leave the comforting warmth she found herself wrapped in. She would have been happy to stay where she was for the next several hours –days if she felt like it.

She was about to fall back to sleep when she felt a movement that she recognized as the one that had originally pried her from her beautiful slumber. It was a light brushing of something against the skin of her lower back where her tank top separated from her pyjama shorts. Furrowing her brow, she shifted slightly, burying her head into the pillow with a small whine of protest. The movement stopped, but then there was another that began at the back of her head, tiny strands of her red hair being tugged at delicately.

Sighing in frustration that she was now far too awake to go back to sleep, she forced her eyelids open only to be met with a peach blur. Blinking rapidly in confusion, her brow deepened even farther as she pulled her head back to get a better look at what was in front of her only to discover it was a chest –a man's chest to be precise. Her confusion only intensified; had she gone drinking last night and come home with a man? Lord knows it wouldn't be the first time, but it had been several years since her last excursion out of her world of work and introverted lifestyle. Besides, she didn't have a pounding headache from a hangover, so what the hell was going on?

The moment she looked up and met Khan's sharp blue gaze, it all came rushing back. Everything from yesterday; the Hangar, the people he'd killed… Somehow, in the middle of the night she had twisted in his arms to curl up against him, her hands splayed out over his toned chest, his bottom arm being used as her pillow and her forehead pressed into his collar. The remaining fog of sleep quickly cleared and she gave a startled squeak as she shot away from him, her hands pushing against his chest to move away faster as her legs kicked and scrambled in her haste to remove herself from him. But even with her mind a bit more aware, she was still disoriented from sleep and managed to almost topple over the side of the bed had it not been for Khan's quick reflexes as he snatched her arm above the elbow to stop her from falling.

Despite this, she smacked and pried at his hand to get him to let go and even though she knew he was strong enough to ignore her feeble attempts, he promptly released her and allowed her to tumble from the bed and to the floor ungracefully with a loud thud. Immediately she scrambled away from the bed and away from him as he moved so his body was supported by a bent elbow as he raised an amused brow in her direction. Her thick covers were messily hanging off the edge where she had fallen and were brought down by her legs, but even more noticeably they were bunched just barely above his hips.

Her heart raced and her breathing was laboured as she stared at him with her mouth agape and her hands shaking. He didn't seem fazed at all as he stared right back; actually he looked downright comfortable with his chest bared to her as he lay in her bed. When she didn't attempt to speak and continued to stare, he sent her an arrogant smirk. "Good evening, Aubrey."

'Good' was definitely not the word she would have used in that moment. She felt like she was going to be sick. She couldn't believe that monster had touched her like that; stroking her back and hair as if she was made of the finest china. What was worse was that she was disgusted with herself for snuggling up to him like she had; she had always been attracted to the best heat source she could find in her sleep –often she found herself in a cocoon of blankets or huddled into a ball. On her few nightly escapades, she had curled into her partner and clutched him like a little girl who refused to part with her favorite dolly.

"You –" she sputtered unintelligently, her voice hoarse from sleep and she looked away from him. "You were just –" She couldn't bring herself to say it as she felt horror trickling down her spine. "You were touching me –Oh, god, I feel violated."

"You didn't seem to mind earlier," he chuckled and her head snapped back up to see his smirk widen, his arrogance knowing no limits. "In fact, if I remember correctly, you seemed to enjoy it quite profusely –"

"Stop it!" she snapped, but she had already paled to be a ghostly white. "Don't. Just stop talking."

He ignored her, of course. "It is nothing to be ashamed of, Aubrey. I am well aware my physique is quite exceptional to the female population."

"Please… Please stop talking…" she mumbled as she tried to ignore him and cradled her head in her hands. She heard him chuckle then a shuffling of blankets followed. Curiosity got the best of her and she knew she made a huge mistake as soon as she lifted her head to look at him.

Not only were his torso and legs bare, but so was _everything_ else. Aubrey's hopes that he would be wearing underwear were squashed the moment he stood before her in his birthday suit, staring down at her with that damnable smirk of his. She couldn't do anything but stare in shock –and slight wonder –at his… _manhood_. It really was quite impressive; but then again she shouldn't have been surprised. A powerfully savage man like Khan with an ego the size of a planet was bound to have a package that rivaled a god's. She just hated herself for not being able to pry her eyes from it.

He didn't move for a while and just watched her staring at him with a blush as red as can be on her cheeks and her jaw slackened. However, after several minutes of silence and staring he finally took a few steps towards her where she sat against the wall. The sudden movement startled her out of her daze and she averted her eyes to the wall on her left while her right hand rose to shield her peripheral vision. In moments he was crouching in front of her and if it were at all possible her blush deepened further.

"Do not feel ashamed to look at me, Aubrey," he told her softly as she felt his hand gently grasp hers and pull it away from her face. Immediately her eyes shut and she kept her head turned away from him, but she jumped when she felt him take her chin –still with surprising gentleness –and turn it back in his direction.

She could feel the warmth of his fingertips on her skin and the calm whispers of his breath over her face. It made her breath hitch in her throat knowing he was just mere inches from her completely nude. She hated herself for finding him attractive; for not having the will to move away from him. Though she would bet her right arm that if she tried he'd stop her as easily as he had earlier. The thought made her terrified in more ways than one; on one hand she felt the need to press herself against him and ravish his body until they were both spent of energy and on the other she hated him and wanted nothing more than to escape him and the trouble he had and will continue to cause her. It was a war in her head that she wasn't sure either side could win.

His hand traveled away from her chin and slowly traced down to the back of her neck and buried his fingers in her messy red hair, lighting a trail of fire in its wake. Then something soft and warm and wet was pressed to the right corner of her lips with such tenderness she was fooled for moment into thinking he was someone else. Someone who wasn't cruel or manipulative, but someone who was gentle and caring instead.

But when another kiss was pressed to her lips and the hand at the back of her neck prompted her forward so their lips were pressed together like melding metal she was startled back into reality.

This was _Khan._ This was a man who used any means necessary to get what he wanted. He wasn't tender, he wasn't gentle and he certainly wasn't caring. Not in this way anyway. He was a ruthless killer with a vendetta to destroy Earth and all its inhabitants. He didn't care for her, he was using her. Just as he used everyone else.

With that thought, her eyes snapped open and her hands that had previously been resting uselessly in her lap shot up to his chest and pushed him forcefully away from her. She must have caught him very off guard because he actually fell back onto the floor, his hand and lips leaving her. She barely paid attention to his shocked expression as she pulled herself to her feet and stumbled away from him towards the door of her bedroom. When she thought she was a safe distance away from him she turned to level him with a hard glare while he watched her curiously now propped up on his elbows and not even bothering to cover his manhood. The shock had left his features and now he just stared at her with a blank expression.

"Don't _ever_," she seethed, "_EVER_ touch me again." Her hand rose to point a finger at him threateningly. She would be lying to herself if she said it was shaking mostly due to anger. "If you do I swear to god I will castrate you."

With those parting words she spun on her heel and stomped from the room with his low chuckle being cut off by the closing door.


End file.
